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The Beehives Rock in Valley of Fire State Park

Wednesday, August 2, 2017

We took a road trip to the Valley of Fire State Park at the end of my husband's conference trip to Las Vegas. If you have a car it's an easy 1-hr drive on the I-15 (exiting at junction 75) then driving on the scenic Valley of Fire Road until you hit the parks West Entrance. There's a $10.00 fee each car and you get a guide map included. Just shorty after entering at the West Gate you will see a sign for the Scenic Loop Road that goes off to the left. This is a 2 miles long route which for about a mile is just a gravel track. Perfectly okay in any type of car as long as you stay on the track.

Close by is the Beehives Rock.

The Beehives are sandstone formations that not only demonstrate the
unique design that can be created by nature, but is an excellent
representation of geologic cross bedding. Those are the grooved lines
going in different directions.

The layers or beds represent different layers of silt that are deposited
at different times. The beds indicate the angle of the wind or water
was moving at the time the material was deposited.

We spent several hours in the Park just driving between and photographing this stunning natural wonder. If we had more time then we would have loved to go on a hike to some of the many trails in the park. But we can always come back another time. We visited in May and the weather was nice however in the Summer months I can imagine the heat is intense, so if you can visit in the Autumn/Winter months it may be best.

Look how small we are in this huge rock -- pretty amazing!

One final point to note is that other than in the Visitor Center I didn't see any places to buy refreshments, so I suggest you go well prepared with your own snacks and water.

That is so cool looking. I haven't heard of this cool spot to visit. My parents always took us on vacation to popular spots each summer. I wish that I could have continued this with my kids but things didn't turn out exactly as I had planned. Such is life. :(